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Wildflowers of Alberta

Five prairie lilies now in bloom, thanks to the neat lady at the farmer’s market who has been growing wildflowers for sale for, oh, at least ten years now. Last year, at last, she turned up with young lilies, and I scooped the lot. Now I have the pleasant task of fine-tuning the wildflower bed so the lilies have good groundcover around them – miniature wild buttercups, wild clover, miniature cranesbills, blue-eyed grass, shooting stars – and won’t be elbowed out by the wild columbine, which have shot up crazy happy and are blooming two feet tall.

Eventually I will have red wild mallow in that bed. I swear it. They’re drop-dead gorgeous: brick-orange groundcover flower, with soft grey desert-zone foliage. I have only seen them in actual bloom once, but I adore them. If only I could get the dumb seed to germinate …